These robots by artists Katrin Hochschuh and Adam Donovan are the most endearing work in the small exhibition at Impakt, center for media culture in Utrecht. The Empathy Swarm consists of a group of small robots on wheels. They form formations, draw towards each other, tapping gently against your shoe. It seems like they want to make contact. Or are those feelings of affection no more than human projection?
[...] It is striking that the Empathy Swarm shows how little is needed to generate empathy for an inanimate object. It raises the question why people sometimes have such bad care for their natural environment.